"That's it. Good for you! You have a philosophic soul yourself, Captain.
She is happy because she has nothing to do but eat, and there is plenty
to eat. That's my case exactly. I have nothing to do except eat, and
at Mrs. Barnes' boarding-house there is always enough, and more than
enough, to eat. The cow is happy and I ought to be, I suppose. If MY
food was furnished free of cost I should be, I presume."
Kenelm Parker heard a conversation like the foregoing on one occasion
and left the office rubbing his forehead.
"There's two lunatics in that place," he told the postmaster. "And if
I'd stayed there much longer and listened to their ravin's there'd have
been another one."
Kenelm seemed unusually contented and happy in his capacity as
man-of-all-work at the High Cliff House. Possibly the fact that there
was so very little real work to do may have helped to keep him in this
frame of mind. He had always the appearance of being very busy; a rake
or a hoe or the kindling hatchet were seldom out of reach of his hand.
He talked a great deal about being "beat out," and of the care and
responsibility which were his. Most of these remarks were addressed to
Imogene, to whom he had apparently taken a great fancy.
Imogene was divided in her feelings toward Mr. Parker.
"He's an awful interestin' talker," she confided to Emily. "Every time
he comes into this kitchen I have to watch out or he'll stay and talk
till noontime. And yet if I want to get him to do somethin' or other
he is always chock full of business that can't wait a minute.
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